scourge
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++LDOCE 5++scourge1 /skɜːdʒ $ skɜːrdʒ/ noun [countable] 1 HARM/BE BAD FORsomething that causes a lot of harm or suffering 祸根，祸害scourge of the scourge of unemployment 失业的祸害 the scourge of war 战争的祸害2. SCCPUNISHa whip used to punish people in the past 〔旧时用作刑具的〕鞭子
Examples from the Corpus
scourge• Sustained international terror has been a scourge on civilized society for the past quarter-century.• The weather was like a scourge, the land could kill you.• Thérèse did not possess a hair shirt, or a belt spiked with rusty nails, or a scourge.• Some of my best friends have been taken by that scourge.• I just repeated the story about my speech on the scourge of gangsterism.• The scourge had abated, but psychological damage had been done, which was not so readily repaired.• The harpies from Paris running the road houses which must inevitably multiply will be a worse scourge than the mosquitoes.scourge of• Gun violence is the scourge of my daughter's generation.scourge2 verb [transitive] 1. HARM/BE BAD FORto cause a lot of harm or suffering to a place or group of people 使遭受苦难，蹂躏2. PUNISHto hit someone with a whip as punishment in the past 鞭打〔旧时的一种刑罚〕→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
scourge• Enraged, he had her broken on a wheel, scourged and beheaded, at which milk flowed from her veins.• In another age Preston would have been out there with the self-flagellants, scourging away for all he was worth.• It flicked behind each dimpled knee; and then scourged her at intervals from her pretty ankles to her shoulder blades.Origin scourge1 (1100-1200) Anglo-French escorge, from Old French escorgier “to whip”, from Latin corrigia “long thin piece of leather”scourge1 nounscourge2 verbChinese
lot or harm something causes that of a Corpus
scourge
scourge1 /skɜːdʒ $ skɜːrdʒ/ 
noun [countable]
scourge of
the scourge of unemployment
the scourge of war
2. a whip used to punish people in the past
scourge2 verb [transitive]
1. to cause a lot of harm or suffering to a place or group of people
2. to hit someone with a whip as punishment in the past
| I |
noun [countable] Date: 1100-1200
Language: Anglo-French
Origin: escorge, from Old French escorgier 'to whip', from Latin corrigia 'long thin piece of leather'
1. something that causes a lot of harm or sufferingLanguage: Anglo-French
Origin: escorge, from Old French escorgier 'to whip', from Latin corrigia 'long thin piece of leather'
scourge of
2. a whip used to punish people in the past
| II |
verb [transitive]1. to cause a lot of harm or suffering to a place or group of people
2. to hit someone with a whip as punishment in the past